Treasury IG gets on IRS’ business cases

IRS officials should not rely on the data in some of their recent business cases to manage and fund IT projects, inspector general auditors have found.A new review says IRS business cases do not report costs accurately or comply with federal requirements and agency guidelines.The tax agency disagreed, saying auditors did not accurately portray some agency actions that played only a minor role in decision-making. IRS said it has started to fix reporting problems, which it will complete later this year when fiscal 2007 budget submissions are due.“Inaccurate information in business cases can distort viable analysis and provide IRS executives with a false assessment of the actual progress and costs of projects,” said Pamela Gardiner, deputy inspector general for audit at the Office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in the report.“Insufficient effort was made to prepare accurate business cases that could be relied upon to better manage IT projects,” the report said.To read the IG’s report, go to and enter 422 in the Quickfind box.